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When he started, Karl Schmidt had no idea how far his woodcarving hobby would go. But now, the 63-year-old Farmville resident’s work has found homes across Virginia, all along the Eastern Seaboard and even across the border in Canada. 

Schmidt’s passion for woodcarving has early roots in his childhood hunting trips with his father in Maryland along the Nanjemoy and Potomac River in the 1970’s. Schmidt and his father used wooden decoys and began repairing decoys for nearby farmers who let them hunt on their land. Schmidt’s father would sand, repair, and paint the old hunting decoys, and Karl would watch and help. 

When he began carving his own hunting decoys, an entire wooden duck was too daunting for a young Schmidt, so he started by carving just duck heads. As he grew older and more confident with his craft, Schmidt began making duck decoys in wood shop like the decoys he and his father used and repaired during hunting trips when he was younger. He even managed to sell some of his woodcarvings to other students and teachers. 

Schmidt set aside woodcarving as a hobby when he grew busy with college and work. All the while he continued hunting and spending time with his father on his 460 acre property along Maryland’s eastern shore. He had a conversation with his father about how he would likely never woodcarve again before a life-changing event took place. 

“I told my father I doubted I’d ever make another decoy,” Schmidt recalls. “Life became too busy.” 

Then on August 8, 1980 — 11 days before Schmidt’s 20th birthday — he took a fateful dive into a backyard pool at a friend’s house. He doesn’t have memory of impact with the bottom of the pool, but Schmidt’s neck was broken and he became permanently paralyzed. 

Finding solace in woodcarving

Schmidt spent time in 3 hospitals, in 3 different states, over the span of nearly 11 months, before returning home in a wheelchair with questions about what to do with his life. He sold his truck, motorcycle, and both his boats. 

“I had no further need for them,” Schmidt explained. 

After some time and contemplation, Schmidt turned to an old, but familiar source for refuge: woodcarving. 

“I had just limited use of one hand but it was enough to hold power tools that resemble an overgrown dentist drill,” Schmidt said. “I started carving decoys in earnest around 1983 and I’ve been doing it ever since.” 

Schmidt said the craft of woodcarving makes him feel productive. It gives him a sense of pride and self-worth to transform a simple piece of wood into a work of art.

“Time can drag on when (someone is) confined to a wheelchair,” Schmidt shared. “I can carve from dawn till dark. I never get tired of it. I often say ‘inside of every block of wood is a duck trying to get out.’” 

Giving them away 

Karl Schmidt began by giving his woodcarvings to friends, family, and loved-ones. Word of his work has grown since then and he now sells his carvings also. He said his mother was a frequent recipient of his work before her passing and his girlfriend Serene receives many of his carvings now. He’s given woodcarvings as gifts and sales as far south as Florida, and as a gesture to a farmer who let him use his land in Wyoming and a hunting guide he traveled with in Canada. 

“I can carve anything. I can make anything I want out of wood if I have a good model,” Schmidt said. “Everyone who has one of my carvings treat them like a treasure or a diamond ring they show off to their friends.”